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Although capable of generating images, the primary function of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer is to measure the flow velocity, or speed of solar particles, and to diagnose the temperature and density of solar plasma -- the ionized gas that surrounds the sun, its corona and beyond. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer provides a crucial link between the other two instruments because it can measure the layers that separate the photosphere from the corona -- an area known as the chromosphere and the chromosphere-corona transition. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer image compares the corona as seen by Hinode's X-Ray Telescope with two Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer wavelengths that correspond to the upper chromosphere and corona of the Sun.

The large peaks in the plot show the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer spectral range at approximately 19.50 nanometers, 19.35 nanometers, and 18.82 nanometers. A very small unit, nanometers measure the wavelength of light and very small objects. For comparison, a human hair is about roughly 80,000 nanometers in diameter. At 19.50 nanometers, the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer is observing a layer of the sun corresponding to the upper chromosphere/lower corona.